Health facilities must be excluded from load-shedding, says department

The Gauteng health department says provincial health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi has asked the provincial government to assist in leading the engagement with municipalities to ensure that health facilities are excluded from supply interruptions given the critical service they render.

The department was responding to an article published on TimesLIVE where the head of internal medicine at Charlotte Maxeke, Prof Adam Mohamed, spoke about the strain load-shedding has brought on the health system.

As a solution, Mohamed said hospitals should be excluded from the enforced power outages implemented by Eskom.

Gauteng health’s head of communication, Motalatale Modiba, said hospitals render essential services and should be excluded from service interruptions.

“Sadly, the current reality is that healthcare facilities often bear the brunt of interruptions in water supply or electricity outages. Some of our facilities like the Far East Rand Regional Hospital are exempted from load-shedding. However, as this weekend proved, this is not enough if there is no guarantee of supply,” Modiba said.

The DA’s Jack Bloom said earlier the hospital generators were required on Saturday after a fault at the local power station.

According to Modiba, the province is working hard to ensure it minimises the impact of load-shedding on essential services at health facilities in Gauteng. He said the provincial government recently, through finance MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, announced plans for a rooftop solar power project for hospitals.

“The MEC, during the May 2022 budget vote, indicated that the provincial government, through the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency, will be financing phase one of the rooftop solar PV [photovoltaic] project. This will see 11 hospitals being able to harness close to 10MW of their electrical power from rooftop solar PVs,” he said.

In the meantime, Modiba said hospitals in the province have generators as a backup system. He cautioned that generators are not the main source of power supply and are contingency measures meant to temporarily kick in when electricity supply is interrupted for a short while.

He said the department was delivering security of supply for diesel by ensuring that agreements are in place with service providers and that there is regular maintenance of the generators at the facilities to keep them in good working order.

TimesLIVE

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